Safety Concerns, I agree with you absolutely.
Since I started commercial flying nearly 40 years' ago, there has always been an element of this. Initially, it was driven as much by the urge to "keep the show on the road" and avoid personal disruption as anything commercial. More recently, commercial pressures have become much greater, often of course through management bonus inducements. It is a brave Commander who will delay a flight - for perfectly sound technical reasons - where he feels company pressures are so loaded against him.
One answer might be to engage union (BALPA) support to reinforce the Commander's rights (and legal duties) to the company, to help counteract any underlying atmosphere of employer intimidation. In my experience, this sort of pressure is generally better dealt with collectively, than personally.
JD
